rried the Holyhead high-road across the strait, and was built by
Telford. The bridge is five hundred and seventy-nine feet long, and
stands one hundred feet above high-water mark; it cost $600,000. Above
the bridge the strait widens, and here, amid the swift-flowing currents,
the famous whitebait are caught for the London epicures. Three-quarters
of a mile below, at another narrow place, the railway crosses the strait
through Stephenson's Britannia tubular bridge, which is more useful than
ornamental, the railway passing through two long rectangular iron tubes,
supported on plain massive pillars. From a rock in the strait the
central tower rises to a height of two hundred and thirty feet, and
other towers are built on each shore at a distance of four hundred and
sixty feet from the central one. Couchant lions carved in stone guard
the bridge-portals at each end, and this famous viaduct cost over
$2,500,000. A short distance below the Anglesea Column towers above a
dark rock on the northern shore of the strait. It was erected in honor
of the first Marquis of Anglesea, the gallant commander of the British
light cavalry at Waterloo, where his leg was carried away by one of the
last French cannon-shots. For many years after the great victory he
lived here, literally with "one foot in the grave." Plas Newydd, one and
a half miles below, the Anglesea family residence, where the marquis
lived, is a large and unattractive mansion, beautifully situated on the
sloping shore. It has in the park two ancient sepulchral monuments of
great interest to the antiquarian.

CAERNARVON AND CONWAY.

[Illustration: CAERNARVON CASTLE.]

As the famous strait widens below the bridges the shores are tamer, and
we come to the famous Caernarvon Castle, the scene of many stirring
military events, as it held the key to the valleys of Snowdon, and
behind it towers that famous peak, the highest mountain in Britain,
whose summit rises to a height of 3590 feet. This great castle also
commanded the south-western entrance to the strait, and near it the
rapid little Sciont River flows into the sea. The ancient Britons had a
fort here, and afterwards it was a Roman fortified camp, which gradually
developed into the city of Segontium. The British name, from which the
present one comes, was Caer-yn-Arvon--"the castle opposite to Mona."
Segontium had the honor of being the birthplace of the Emperor
Constantine, and many Roman remains still exist there. It w